Students’ perceptions of peer feedback in learning English writing skills at a university in Hanoi

Abstract

Peer feedback is a technique commonly used in teaching and learning English in general and writing skills in particular. That students’ perceptions of peer feedback are uncovered helps teachers improve their teaching process. The article is about a research project conducted at a university in Hanoi. The participants of the study were 88 first year students majoring in English language. The contents of the study focus on (1) investigating the first year students’ attitudes towards peer feedback in their writing periods, and (2) finding out the difficulties faced by the students when learning writing skills with peer feedback. Both qualitative and quantitative methods are exploited in this research project. Survey questionnaires and interviews were used as the tools to collect the data. The results of the study show that students have positive attitudes towards peer feedback and this technique helps to improve their writing skills. It is also revealed in the study that students face some difficulties when taking part in this activity such as limited general English knowledge and skills, short time for peer feedback and unclear oral explanations from the teacher. Based on the findings, some implications for using peer feedback effectively are also given in this study.